We live in a culture of constantly advertised danger. Political pundits call it fear-mongering, wherein news of every kind is reported with a tone of breathlessness that nears panic. Tariffs will cause a 21^st-century Great Depression! Bird Flu will make Covid look like kid’s play! Whoever is President will cause the end of all your freedoms! 

The messaging is relentless. Your doctor will kill you! The weather will kill you and your family! Earthquakes and/or volcanoes lie in wait every day, all day! So, say the giant advertisers of such giant narratives of doom and gloom. These advertisers, mainly political leaders and big media, push us to live in fear, which takes a toll. We sometimes fight, more often we flee, and sometimes, we freeze, becoming inert, unable to do much of anything.

As Christians, we must look to Scripture to discern how to live, serve, and grow in the context of constantly advertised danger. Numbers Chapter 13 is a great place to look for such timeless truths about giant narratives.

Numbers 13 provides the true ancient story of God’s chosen nation, Israel, as they prepared to obey God and move into the promised land. This mission was to be accomplished by trusting God for provision and protection against the dangerous and entrenched inhabitants of the land of Canaan. 

Scripture tells us that Moses, God’s chosen leader over Israel, selected twelve men to spy out the land ahead of the God-ordained invasion. One chief man from each of the nation’s twelve tribes was selected, and the men were told to inspect the area known as the Negeb and the hill country and determine if the inhabitants were strong or weak. They were also tasked with evaluating the land, whether it was fruitful or desolate. They were told to bring back some of the produce as well. 

The men did as they were instructed, travelling from the wilderness of Zin to the Negeb and then on to the city of Hebron and the Valley of Eshcol. After 40 days of spying, the 12 operatives returned to the camp of Israel. They came with a “good news, bad news” report! They showed Moses, Aaron, and all the people the excellent, succulent fruit they found in Canaan and described the land as flowing with “milk and honey.” However, the spies then advertised great danger, and they mongered fear by bemoaning the fact that the people who inhabited the land were strong and living in fortified cities. They told the eager Israelite listeners they saw the sons of Anak in the land, and this was a terrifying revelation, because the sons of Anak were understood to be a powerful race of people, of significant height, who descended from the Nephilim (Gen 6:4). They were, according to the eyewitness reports, literal “giants.”

Thus, most of the spies—ten of them, to be exact—brought back a devastating report, telling the people they would not be able to fight against the Canaanites because they were too big and too powerful. In the very presence of Yahweh, God almighty who was literally resident with them, they proved practical atheists. 

However, two of the spies did not shrink with fear, and these were Joshua and Caleb.  Caleb, the spy from the tribe of Judah, passionately offered a different “take” on Canaan. He gave a faith-inspired report, boldly proclaiming his faith in God and telling the people they should advance on Canaan immediately and take possession of the land. Later, Joshua, from the tribe of Ephraim and whose name means Yahweh saves,  passionately followed suit, even as the people rejected their encouragement and succumbed to anger and panic:

“Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. ² And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” Numbers 14:1-4

Tragically, the hopelessness of the cowardly spies spread through the camp of Israel like wildfire. These leaders, these chiefs, revealed belief in a weak god, even as Yahweh had brought them miraculously out of Egypt some two years earlier, proving incredible power over men and nature! 

Numbers 15 tells us that Yahweh, in utterly justified manner, punished the rampant faithlessness by refusing to let that entire generation enter rest in the promised land at all. The nation took a forty-year pause in the wilderness. Israel eventually took the land because God went before them just as He had always promised He would. However, faithlessness has remained the bane of Israel to this very day.

So, how does this story apply to our culture of constantly advertised danger? Here are the practical takeaways:

 Leaders have a lot of influence over people. They can either lead people into acts of great faith, with confidence of success based on the enormity of God’s power or lead them into despair and believing their God is no greater than their own strength. Consider our leaders and media pundits and discern who is faithful and who is faithless. 

If you personally lead anyone, from your family level upward to large organizations, you can use that influence to either spread infectious faith or contagious faithlessness. Being called by God to lead is a big responsibility, but God promises to be with you always, so be like Caleb and live by faith! Reject the giant advertisers who relentlessly advertise giants, and choose instead to trust the truly giant triune God of creation and your salvation!